What Happened to Monday? Cotswold Must Have Stolen It...

I can't believe it's already Wednesday. Not only Wednesday, but I'm almost half way through the trip. All of a sudden, this week and the entire trip is flying by. I'll be in Scotland in a short time and then onto my mini-break and then it's almost time to return home. I feel like I've done nothing but I know I've done a lot. There is just so much more to see and do in this city! Sometimes I don't have the energy to push on to one more museum but I'm doing my best to see as much of this city as possible in the short time that I am here.

Today was a very full day that involved a lot of walking. A.Lot.Of.Walking. We started the day at the Art Library of the Victoria & Albert Museum. This is located near south of Hyde Park and is actually directly across the street from the Natural History Museum that we visited on Sunday. It was a really cool library and it was nice to see a museum library. They showed us a lot of amazing things! We actually got to touch the first manuscript of Dickens' Bleak House! I'll say no more of that but will blog more about it on my class blog.

After finishing there, we wandered around the Victoria & Albert Museum itself to see what it had to offer. The jewelry collection was stunning, as were the tapestries, and the dress collection! There was a lot that this museum had to offer but just not enough time to see it all (as is often the case with museums). We left there around the noon hour to find some lunch and happened upon a nice Thai place just across the street. It was very lovely and I had some really awesome Phad Siew. 

Then we began our four hour walk across London. I've decided to map it for you all cause I have a lot of time on my hands. Enjoy that. First we went to the Science Museum and walked around there. We saw an exhibit on the WWII code breakers in England, most specifically Alan Turing. Then we listened to the London Philharmonic Orchestra perform The Planets. After hearing it, we then decided to go to the Royal Albert Hall to purchased tickets for the Proms. Here is the event we will be attending: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2012/july-23/14244. We're all very excited!

It was very nice out so we walked up by Hyde Park and on to Oxford Street. We stopped in several stores during this walk but by the end of it, all of us were exhausted. But hey, I purchased a really pretty dress, which is so very unlike me. And it looks all feminine. I will be wearing it to the proms with my date, Cotswold. Once more, we're back at the dorms and blogging/relaxing. Tomorrow we will be heading to Stratford-Upon-Avon for an all-day trip. It will be a long day so I probably will not post again for a few days. Until then!

Non-Foggy London Town

In the very short list of things that Kate cannot do, we must officially add….sleeping on planes. It’s pretty much impossible for me to get comfortable on an airplane. I hope one day to conquer this issue and learn to sleep anywhere, but at the moment it still plagues me and becomes a hindrance when traversing several time zones.

Since I’ve updated this blog, you now know that I’ve landed and arrived safely in London. And I have a lot to catch you all up on so this will be a two-part blog. The plane ride was smooth, despite the fact that I got an hour’s sleep at the most. I was in the center seat of a three seat row. The woman on my right was really odd. She seemed all knowing about plan travel, with her noise-cancelling Bose headphones and a really cool mask that blocked out all light, but when dinner came around, she assumed that she could get the “Vegetable Curry” without preordering it. And then, when she obviously couldn’t, she ordered the beef….yeah, I’m still trying to understand that one. Overall, it was an uneventful flight with a touch of minor turbulence.

We landed at 730 and once I went through immigration, I had to truck from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 to get the coach that would take me to my residence. I’m very happy that I came through Terminal 1 and that my immigration only took 20 minutes, for those who came in through Terminal 3 had to wait two hours. Thus, I actually spent an extra two hours at Heathrow Airport, waiting for enough people to arrive so we could board the bus at head to London.

After a 30-45 minute drive bus ride to London, we arrived at King’s College. I got into my dorm room, which is small but will be perfect for what I need this coming month, but I’m not sure I could live in a room this big for an extended period of time. We all have our own bathrooms and refrigerators in the rooms. When writing this on Friday afternoon, we did not have WiFi but will hopefully have it by tomorrow, Saturday, morning. (side note: We got it on Saturday morning!)

Once I was settled in, I ran into a friend and fellow library science student, Melissa, who was about to head to find food and WiFi. Her companions were serious travel newbs. Well, one of them definitely was. I’m going to call her Kat. She’s from the south, Mississippi in fact, and she is kind of dumb. I tried to be nice about it but she just has no idea how to travel. She didn’t call her bank to tell them she was going to be overseas and didn’t bring any pounds with her. So when the restaurant declined her card, she was very shocked. She also made us all go get Indian food, because she’s picky and everyone needs to cater to her food tastes…She also didn’t take her key with her or lock the door to her room. We’re already best friends. Sorry for ranting but it really was dumb.

After lunch, we stood in Waterloo Station by the McDonalds to access the WiFi on our Kindles/iPhones. Then Melissa and I went for an adventure, where we walked along the Thames, purchased tickets to see Henry V at the Globe Theater tomorrow evening, and then got some breakfast and snack food. (Side note: the weather has been quite nice. Sunny but windy. I hope it lasts!)

Then we met up with our professor and other library science people for a longer tour of the region. We got our Tube cards and took a trial run on the tube to Leicester Square. We had dinner nearby and finally got back to the dorms around 730. I was seriously dead on my feet and had pretty much gone crazy by that time. I took a quick shower and then passed out. Great first day in London! It’s now Saturday so I will post my second blog later this evening with a recap of the day. And I will post pictures of my room!

-        -  Kate